Department of English presents online SPARK Writing Festival, from July 18 to 31

Hone your writing skills in immersive literary workshops and learn from esteemed guest speakers’ experiences during the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s SPARK Writing Festival Photography: Andrea MabryHone your writing skills in immersive literary workshops and learn from esteemed guest speakers’ experiences during the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s SPARK Writing Festival.

Join students and faculty from the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of English for the annual festival. Participants will have the opportunity to learn from others in the community and enjoy a fun learning environment for writers of all experience levels. The festival will be held from July 18-31, via Zoom.

In this virtual series, five different genres of immersive writing workshops will be offered, from 6-8 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The genres include fiction, nonfiction, poetry writing for young people and SPARK Starts. Participants will generate new ideas during the first week and will critique their works during the second week.

Free community events open to the public will be offered throughout the festival; on Sunday, July 25, at 2 p.m., hear from keynote speakers Irene Latham and Karim Shamsi-Basha, who received the Caldecott Honor for their book, “The Cat Man of Aleppo.” Additional community event presenters will include Halley Cotton, George Sawaya, Voice Porter, Javacia Harris Bowser, Jennifer Horne and Nichole Lariscy. Community events are free.  

The SPARK Starts workshop is $20. This is geared more toward beginner writers, although it is beneficial to all writers.

1. Each other genre of immersive workshops is $60. This price includes all six workshop sessions per genre, and the sessions are two hours each.
2. Additionally, scholarships are available for the SPARK workshops. For more information, email SPARKWritingFestival@gmail.com or visit uab.edu/sparkwritingfestival.